Hey everyone,
Let's take a look at this week's resources! Our task is to give our thoughts on how the two chapters in the class text correlate to the ideas in behaviorism.
Here are my thoughts. These two chapter to me give teachers advice on how to get homework and true effort out of our students. I will be the first to say that I have a pretty poor track record when it comes to getting real work out of my students. I think that this is a real issue in high school math because student who get the material easily don't feel the need to do homework at all, and students who struggle often give up before they even start to try. In my two year of teaching, I have failed to make much of a dent in either group.
However, this weeks readings ask me to approach homework a little bit differently and I like the idea. Instead of just giving homework and asking/hoping/praying for students to do it, perhaps I can use the principles of behaviorism to get some work out of my pupils.
Case in point, let us look at Chapter 8: Reinforcing Effort. The authors make the statement that students don't always recognize the value of effort. I could not agree more! I had a quote up in my room this year that said "Effort is worth more than perceived ability." But students just don't get the idea that if they give a true effort, they can succeed. This chapter recommends that teachers can have students keep and plot data in spreadsheets about their effort vs. their success on assessments. In this method, the idea is that students will see that effort leads to success, not luck or mercy from the teacher. This method links effort and grades. It makes the grades a reinforcement of effort, and thus, behaviorist would say that conditioning occurs. I like this idea and think that it could possibly work. I might try this, but the time needed might take up too much instructional time.
Chapter 10: Homework and Practice gives some great recommendations on getting students to see the value in homework. It too focuses on showing students the value in homework. To many times homework has little immediate affect on the student, so they do not put in the effort. This chapter advises teachers to have clear policies, always comment on assigned homework, and tell the students what the homework is meant to do. In clarifying homework this way, teachers show students that homework is import and meaningful and that not doing it will have negative consequences. The chapter also give some great technology ideas that will make homework more meaningful, fun, clear, and interactive.
So, if your students don't always do theirs homework, maybe some good old-fashion conditioning is what they need. I guess some students will never see the intrinsic value in practicing skills in homework. Teachers will have to dangle carrots and slap wrists with rulers no matter how advanced we get!
Don't give up hopes though folks. If Pavlov can make dogs' mouths water with a bell, we should be able to get middle schoolers to do their homework somehow! Maybe technology can help.
Tyler
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Tyler,
ReplyDeleteIf an idea is worth doing, it is worth the time to do it. I encourage you to try the effort spreadsheet. If students give an honest appraisal of their effort, this activity could yield better efforts and more understanding of the material from your students.
If my math teacher would have explained to me why I had to do 50 questions for homework over one concept, I may have put more effort into the homework. Not one of my math teachers ever explained how this was beneficial to my education. If they would have just said, you are just like Pavlov's dog, the more you do it the more you will understand it, I might have put in more effort.
Winner
Explaining to students why it is they are expected to do homework practice certainly won't solve all of the problems with students not completing homework, however it is a much needed step. Without some sort of light shinned onto the future result of their work, it would seem worthless to most people. If we can get students to understand that the practice is so they can reach mastery instead of just memorizing a procedure for a short period of time, students are likely to spend less time frustrated in years to come. One thing we have to remember though as teachers, is that not all students need the same amount of homework practice. If the homework is indeed used to serve the purpose of helping students reach a true understanding, then it does seem a little wasteful to have students complete 50 problems when night after night when they can complete the problems in their sleep already. Using technology programs for homework time to time I think could really help with this issue because then students can move onto the next level at their own pace.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTyler,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, love the picture of your little boy! Congratulations to you and your wife again….
Now on to school….
Getting students to do homework can be a real struggle. With my honors levels students, they are anxious for me to finish the lesson for the day in hopes of getting some time at the end of class to begin their homework. With this type of group, there are still the one or two who cannot see the purpose of homework, then wonder why they make a B or C in the class. I think I could use the effort rubric with them because the majority would probably be pretty honest about the information they record. I also communicating the importance of doing homework to check understanding is helpful. Although I do not check homework daily, I am usually able to see which students have put for an effort while walking around and going over answers.
As for my lower level students, I actually limit homework to about once a week. I have found that with a 90 minutes class period we often have time to do “homework” in class…. I know that actually makes it class work, however, this level often accomplishes more and asks more questions when they are given time in class to practice.
Let’s hope we do not have to resort to bells and food to get our students to do homework and behave the way we would like for them
too.
~Leilani